December 4 Wednesday – William B. McGann, who was President of the American Plasmon Co. to Apr. 30, 1906, wrote a salary claim to Sam, now acting President and Vice-President. The letter is not extant but is referred to in a New York Times article of Dec. 21, 1907, p. 6, (below).  Shortly after Dec. 4, Sam replied to McGann, his letter reprinted in the Dec. 21 article:

MARK TWAIN CONCERN GIVES UP THE GHOST

Plasmon Company of America Unable to Meet Obligations and Receiver is Named.

December 3 Tuesday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to W.H. Powell, editor of the Hannibal Courier-Post.

December 2 Monday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to daughter Jean.

Dear Jean I will attend to the matter regarding translations, even if the pay be very small in money it will be large in entertainment for you & well worth the labor it will cost you.

December 1 Sunday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam replied to the Nov. 30 from Miss Florence Benson.

Dear Florence:

Thank you for your nice note.—

(Private.) I have always concealed it before, but now I am compelled to confess that I am Tom Sawyer!

 [MTP]. See Florence’s Nov. 30 letter.

Sam also wrote to daughter Jean.  

December – Sometime during the month Sam attended a private dinner hosted by Daniel Frohman. At that dinner he met Elinor Sutherlin Glyn (Mrs. Clayton Glyn) (1864-1943), British novelist and scriptwriter, the sister of Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon. She led the way in erotic fiction for women, marketed to the masses, and had arrived that fall after the release of her first successful novel, Three Weeks (1907) which had been a hit in England.

November 30 Saturday – Sam’s 72nd Birthday. The New York Times, Dec. 1, p. 1, “Mark Twain 72” reported “Hundreds of congratulatory letters and telegrams were received during the day from points all over the world. Many friends called a the house to congratulate him.”

In N.Y.C. Sam inscribed an aphorism in a copy of Eve’s Diary to an unidentified person: “With the love of the Author. November 30, 1907. Clothes make the man, but they do not improve the Woman, Truly yours, Mark Twain.” [MTP].

November 29 Friday – Sam finished his Nov. 21 to Mary B. Rogers.

Mariechen, I didn’t say sins, I said it covered a multitude of charms. And it is perfectly true. I wish you wouldn’t be always misquoting me & discouraging all my attempts to learn how to be veracious. For I do so want to learn how, dear.

I don’t know where you are but I am guessing that you are in Tuxedo. You were very delightful yesterday./ Affectionately / Your Uncle Mark [MTP].

November 28 Thursday – Thanksgiving – Sam lunched at H.H. Roger’s home where he likely saw Mary B. Rogers, and thought her “very delightful” [Nov. 29 to Mary Rogers; Dec. 1 to Jean]. He dined out in the evening and returned home at 11 p.m., with a neighbor (unspecified), played billiards until 4 a.m.

Helen Campbell wrote from Camden, NJ to beg a loan of $500 from Sam [MTP].

November 27 Wednesday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam sent a telegram to Frances Nunnally, at St. Timothy’s School, Catonsville, Md: “I HOPE YOUR TEAM WILL WIN FRANCESCA DEAR I COULD NOT GO TO BOSTON” / SL CLEMENS” [MTP].

Sam also sent a telegram to Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Warfield, Governor of Maryland: “BEST THANKSGIVING WISHES TO YOU ALL, BY NO MEANS FORGETTING MISS LOUISE” [MTP].

November 26 Tuesday – Nelle R. Eberhart, Oscar Eberhart, Charles Wakefield Codman, and Blanche K. Knowlton wrote from Homestead Pa. to Editors of Harper’s. “We have just finished reading ‘Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven.’ / Give us more on the same plan. We have been reading advanced thought for fifteen years and rarely find much that is congenial in the magazines” [MTP].

John H. Johnston wrote to Sam.